What kind of clown is Canio from I Pagliacci?
Canio’s white outfit with the big floppy ruff harks back to the Pedrolino character from the Italian Comedia dell’ Arte. Leoncavallo, as his own librettist, drew quite heavily on the comedia dell’ arte to shape many of the characters in Pagliacci, while within the plot of the opera, Canio heads a troupe of comedia dell’ arte players itself. Pedrolino appears in many guises throughout Europe, including the familiar Pierrot. Here’s a source describing a number of them: http://www.shane-arts.com/Commedia-Pedro… Picture-wise, there are many: http://www.lebrecht.co.uk/bin/lebrecht.d… http://www.lebrecht.co.uk/bin/lebrecht.
